The old Man Utd Thread

[Bleeders]

Barca Sporting Director confirms on TV3 that Pedro wants to leave. Get this deal sorted Woody.

[Nicky]

blind won't stay CB. if he does i'd be extremeley surprised. it's obvious we'll bring in a CB.

[AlwaysBeClosing]

Obviously Jones needs to get back to fitness.

[Nicky]

we need a defender that can stay fit, our's reliably can't

[sith]

Otamendi or Stones are the likely options at CB. Ramos looks dead in the water

Pedro will be a good signing but I'm not sure where that leaves Mata, Herrera, Young and Fellaini. We'd have good depth in midfield for sure.

[MojoChin]

Remember we're back in the CL (well, so long as we beat Brugges) so we'll need them all at some stage. Mata, Herrera and Fellaini will all get enough game time. If we go 4-3-3, Young might be the one that loses out most, but then again he has just signed a new contract. I don't think there will be issues with games for all them guys.

[The Fox]

So De Gea is doing the old 'refusal to play' thing apparently.

Similarities to us with Fabregas. Only one club the player will go to, you set the price but the buying club won't go near it because they know they have the upper hand. Player eventually downs tools, and you're left with having to retain a guy who doesn't want to be there, or accepting an offer some way below true market value.

[Liamness]

We already knew he wasn't going to play for the club again until he either signs a new contract (not going to happen) or the transfer window closes without him having moved. With the level of concentration required for a keeper, it's understandable that he wouldn't want to play while negotiations are ongoing.

It seems like an odd game of brinksmanship. If he had 2+ years left on this contract, then you would expect him to go for a record fee, but he doesn't. Any bump in the fee will just be used up on whatever we spend on his replacement, I'd hate to be the guy trying to haggle with Daniel Levy in the last week of August over Lloris.

[Trigg]

So De Gea is doing the old 'refusal to play' thing apparently.

Similarities to us with Fabregas. Only one club the player will go to, you set the price but the buying club won't go near it because they know they have the upper hand. Player eventually downs tools, and you're left with having to retain a guy who doesn't want to be there, or accepting an offer some way below true market value.

I'm still not sure he's refused to play. There's so many different views out there on whats happened it's difficult to work out whats going on.

I still think they'll in this window but I wouldn't be surprised if we just kept and let him pre sign in January.

[feltmonkey]

Januzaj starts tonight against Villa. I really hope he does well.

[feltmonkey]

Lovely goal. I like the look of this team.

[Baring]

How solid and neat is Darmien. (Commentator said solid too as I typed this!)

Couple things I notice is Depay looks knackered even after 20 mins or he just sweats a lot.

Shaw needs to trim his beard, he's obviously in peak condition but he looks a bit chubby to me lol has he bulked?

Januzai looks odd with black boots.

[feltmonkey]

What was going on there with Darmien and Richards? Was he telling him he had something on his face?

[Nicky]

back from the pub what have i missed? (other than the deflected own goal)

[The Fox]

Rooney playing like he's taken fuck loads of ket?

[feltmonkey]

Well, it certainly wasn't an own goal. There was a slight deflection, but it didn't really make a difference. It came from some good build-up play from Januzaj and a sublime pass from Mata. We've looked decent generally. Memphis and Rooney have done nothing, but Mata and Januzaj have looked alright. Villa should have had a penalty when Darmien did some proper Italian defending from a corner.

Edit - oh, and Smalling and Shaw have been excellent.

[Liamness]

Bit unfair to take Januzaj off I think, he's probably been our best attacker (although the others haven't exactly covered themselves in glory). Glad he has the 60 minutes and his goal though, will go a long way to putting last season behind him.

[feltmonkey]

Schweinsteiger is excellent, isn't he? He's come on and taken over the game.

Memphis is going to have to start improving a bit fairly soon. I wasn't expecting him to come in and immediately be brilliant, but this is the second 4/10 performance he's put in in a row.

[Nespresso]

That freekick was a bit poor lol.

[feltmonkey]

So was the miss when clean through from Mata's excellent pass.

[Nespresso]

Clench those butt cheeks now boys...

[Nicky]

darmian, fucking ace.

[feltmonkey]

The back four have played really well. Any one of them could have got man of the match. I'd have gone for Shaw personally, but you couldn't really argue with any of the four getting it.

[Nespresso]

Do they need a new striker? Looks like they need a new striker.

[Baring]

Back 4 were awesome. Wtf was Rooney doing?!

[Nicky]

not scoring 20 goals a season

[toythatkills]

Rooney is the captain of my Fantasy Football team so I feel partially responsible for this. Sorry.

[LiMuBai]

I don't think I saw Rooney sprint once in that game. Which wouldn't be that bad for a number 10, but his touch and passing were both extremely poor tonight as well. God we need another decent striker...

[Mercury]

Selling RVP is looking stranger by the week. Rooney was shocking. Pleasantly surprised about how strong we look at the back.

[Liamness]

Rooney didn't, um, move much did he? He wasn't even goalhanging, he was just lazily drifting around the pitch in a completely ineffectual manner. At least Januzaj looked good. Would like to see Hernandez and / or Wilson given a go if he continues in this vein.

Schneiderlin, Darmein and Blind were excellent. We're looking a lot more solid at the back this season. I thought we looked better after the switch to 4-3-3 with Herrera coming on, hope Van Gaal starts with this shape against Brugge.